Installed a Wixey digital height gauge on planer (w/pics)
Hello everyone,
The previous upgrade I did to my planer was to install a Byrd cutterhead in it.
The latest upgrade was to install a Wixey digital height gauge onto my Canadian made General model 130 14" planer.
Here is a shot of the guage fresh out of the box,
http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/wixey1.jpg
It didn't come with much, just a random bag of screws and things that didn't look too helpful to me.
I checked the Wixey web site to see if anyone had posted pics of an install on a 130. No one had, so it looked like I was on my own.
I held the gauge in various places on the planer until I found the place I wanted to mount it,
http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/wixey2.jpg
Once I figured out where to place the gauge, I took it apart and made cardboard templates of the brackets I would have to make,
http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/wixey3.jpg
I bought some 2" wide by 1/8" thick aluminum stock to make the brackets out of. I traced my cardboard patterns onto the aluminum and cut the parts out on a 14" bandsaw. A little work with both a round and a flat file and things looked pretty good. I also had to drill some holes in the brackets for where the screws would attach the Wixey to the bracket, and the brackets to the planer,
http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/wixey4.jpg
I then marked for those hole on my planer before drilling and tapping the cast iron to accept the pan head machine screws that would hold the brackets in place,
http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/wixey5.jpg
Next I mounted the Wixey to the main bracket,
http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/wixey6.jpg
I put the Wixey back together and installed in on my planer,
http://www.federatedtool.com/david/img/wixey7.jpg
You can see the screws that are holding on the brackets I made.